Today’s education discussion hosted by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce reiterated reform advocates’ position that business leaders must become involved in education.

“Politics have gotten increasingly difficult,” said speaker Margaret Spellings. “Until we incite ourselves in kind of a ‘we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore’ led by the business community with parents involved, we’re not going to move the needle and people are not going to believe there is a problem in this country.”

The chamber hosted Spellings, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Forum for Policy Innovation who is also former U.S. Secretary of Education.

But it was Michelle Rhee — former chancellor of the D.C. public schools, and now the CEO and founder of the nonprofit StudentsFirst — who drove the majority of the discussion.

Rhee said that when business gets involved in education, they should listen to what the schools need first.

“Our best partners were the ones that came to us and said ‘what is keeping you up at night, and what can we do to help?”” Rhee said of her experience in D.C.

Rhee and Spellings also cautioned that more money is not a solution.

“We have to move to much, much more accountable systems,” Rhee said.

She said accountability data should be used to ensure a “return on an investment,” so that leaders can track what works.

The nearly 250 people who attended the event — mostly educators and business leaders — each received an eight-page booklet full of questions to ask school board candidates.

She would not have run a school district if she had to answer to a school board, “but God bless people like Tom Boasberg who do,” she said. “The work is hard enough as it is. The politics of a school board should not define what a superintendent can do or the pace they take.”

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has said he is not interested in running schools, but is forming partnerships with the district, and will also soon make endorsements for the DPS school board elections.

Michelle Rhee knows nothing about educating kids. She is part of the business reform movement that plans to privatize public schools. Segregation at its best. Business leaders should be listening to education leaders. You do realize that Rhee was fired from her job in Washington DC, right?

Conny Jensen

Margaret Spellings. “Until we incite ourselves in kind of a ‘we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore’ led by the business community with parents involved, we’re not going to move the needle and people are not going to believe there is a problem in this country.”

The problem is child poverty. Try learning something on an empty stomach or under stress induced from a home environment where mom and dad have no time to give to you because they are busy with jobs, menial ones at that! 22% of American children live in poverty! Poverty also carries high risk for poor health.

This nation and the wealthy people in it should be ashamed about not caring for children’s immediate needs!
“The internal state of a child helps determine what it will perceive and learn. A child who is hungry or exhausted, ill or anxious does not learn well.” – Bruce Perry ~ http://www.buildbetterschools.com/?p=799

Kmshornet

Until teachers opinions and comments along with student opinions and comments are factored into the whole ed reform/debate…not much is going to happen. Well yes, public education as we know it will be dismantled and you can expect a cheating scandal like DC, Atlanta, NJ, et alia to come to a local school near you. And while we bash educators, why in the heck do we look to business people to solve our problems? I mean seriously. Our current 3 year Great Recession, the credit market implosion, mortgages, outsourcing, etc isn’t that the result of these savvy business people, Enough Already.

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